


Slightly

by NCT_ouo



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Real Life, nct dayily, nct rookie days, please don't mind the timeline
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-23
Updated: 2018-01-25
Packaged: 2019-03-08 13:09:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13458924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NCT_ouo/pseuds/NCT_ouo
Summary: It's rough to tell the days apart, sleepless and tired, every day & night started and ended the same. The reality is harsh. But Taeyong is glad that at least, he has his members, slightly it seems better.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I am a horrible person for not updating the old fics and starting a brand new one, although I promise I will update more regularly now since I am finally freer from work. This is kind of different from my other two works, please let me know what you think about it.

** Current day **

 

A breeze brushed through his hair, it’s warm, with the smell of spring yet still just a touch of winter. Taeyong pulled his mask slightly higher and walked into the store, in his state of slight fever and headache, he feels like the spring wind is mocking him.

 

Ever since he was a kid, spring was actually his least favorite season, because of his pollen allergy and his friends forcing him to “enjoy the outdoors”.  Taeyong loath the outdoors.

 

But ever since he started training with SM, going out is basically a luxury, adding to the fact he is always tired, no one can force him to leave the dorm during the little break they have. And usually no one has the energy to go out anyway, except for the foreign members, when they want to *explore Seoul*.  

 

“25,000 won please.” he realized he is still at the check-out counter and the customer behind him made an irradiated sound, gesturing for him to finish the purchase faster. He speeds up and rushed out again. Lowering his hat, praying he can get back as smoothly as possible. Glasses, check, hat, check, no makeup check, mask check........ the familiar Saesang fans at the corner..check.

 

Muttering a curse word under his breath, he walked faster, trying his best to ignore the group of girls’ flash photography. His headache getting worse and he felt his temper getting the better of him. “Oppa! When is your comeback?” “ Oppa! How are you?””Oppa! Is your hair red?” “Oppa this is a gift for you!”

 

And this only got worse, other “resident campers” outside of SM rushed towards him. He deeply regretted not bringing a manager. But it was 5 am, who would have thought...

 

“Oppa give this to Mark please” “Oppa this is a gift for Jaehyun-shi” “Oppa! I am Yuta Oppa’s fan, can you give him this?” Taeyong is trying to smile with his eyes and rejecting the gifts as kindly as possible. Some of the fans starting to invade his personal space, shoving letters and gift packs in his face. These are the owners and front liners of the biggest NCT fan sites, and as a rookie group,  NCT are in no position to bitch out yet.

 

He felt beads of cold sweat starting to form on his forehead, the dizziness from the fever is getting worse. “You will all hear from us soon!” a cheerful voice came out of nowhere, the fans attention quickly shifted looking for its origin. And before even Taeyong realize who it was, he is pulled out of the crowd and started running towards the building.

 

Finally, catching his breath once he is inside the building, he rested his head on the other boy’s shoulder, now fully realized who just save his ass.

 

“ You shouldn’t have ran, you are still recovering from your injury...” complaining even if he is secretly thankful.

“ Says the person who is burning up like a baked potato.”

“ I am the leader! All the kids are tired from the all nighter practice, it’s the least I could do to buy food.” Taeyong pouted and starts marching towards the practice room.

 

“ Well, I am your boyfriend, it is the least I can do to save your sorry ass from the fangirls. “ A hand forcefully held his, how can he say these words in so casually.

“ Shut up Nakamoto” Taeyong felt his cheeks getting flushed, and it’s not from the fever.

 

 

“kids breakfast!” Yuta shouted waking up the younger ones with a gentle push, as Taeyong is laying out all the meals on the floor. They have always made a great team, and ever since they became an “official” thing, they became the mom and dad of the group.

 

Everyone except the youngest woke up fairly quickly, all of them barely slept, rushing to Taeyong and mumbling thank yous to the leader. They finish practice at 2, and had a 3 hour nap on hard wood floors. Although they are exhausted, hunger got the better of them. Yuta sighed as he nudges the younger two cuddled up together, getting no response, he placed his hand gently on Haechan’s forehead, yup, the fever is still there. And judging by Mark’s labored breathing, his cold is probably also there. The cold medicine is probably making them sleepier than usual, and he doesn’t have the heart to wake them, but they also need food to recover faster.

 

“Donghyukkie, Minhyung-ah, you need to eat breakfast” sitting beside them, shaking them a bit harder. Rubbing his eyes, Haechan sat up and groaned, while Mark just sat up and rested himself against Yuta, eyes still closed. Haechan saw and copied his movement, hugging yuta from the side.

 

“KIDS FOOD!” their leader’s voice was rougher than usual, since he is also recovering from his cold, as cute as the scene of mama yuta with two little birds is, they have a shooting schedule at 7 am. “Mom why is dad so mean?” Haechan complained as Yuta dragged them both up,

“Your dad didn’t sleep and bought you guys food, now eat your breakfast and don’t forget your meds.” Yuta said tone harsher than intended ruffling the kids hair to soften the situation.

 

“eww, you guys are so married, it is ruining my appetite.” Doyoung chimed in

 

“You are basically siting on Jaehyun’s lap bunny boy.” Johnny was eating with one eye opened at a time.

 

“Please, you are just jealous. Tennie is not in 127.”

“Keep talking and you won’t be in 127.”

“I am still in U with Tennie and Jaehyun, Dungeon master seo.”

“You mean the stages where you constantly look like you are pissing your pants?”

 

The rest of the members looks amongst themselves, not sure what they should do, yeah, Johnny and Doyoung diss each other all the time, but maybe it’s the lack of sleep, the convo has escalated from friendly bicker to full blown insults, with the other members Taeyong thought it was his obligation as a leader to step in before it becomes a fight. But his head hurt and he is looking forward to sleeping in the car. He just weakly said, “Kids, Don’t, not now, we have a shooting going to Japan in like 3 hours.”

 

But of course, they didn’t listen.

 

“You don’t even have lines, Mr. I don’t get stage fright”

“I wish I am not in 127, at least I don’t have to pretend to like your rude ass.”

 

Normally, Taeyong didn’t mind, although they are not usually this mean, but they literally fight every chance they get, it’s just there way of dealing with stress. But with lack of sleep and being sick, he reached the limit of his patience.

 

“SHUT IT! I am so done with you idiots, shut up! EAT your FOOD, I don’t want to hear another word!” The other members looks at him with shock expressions, Taeyong never gets mad at them when they are not practicing, they look towards Yuta to see what they should do,

 

“I am so done with having to take care of all your sorry asses!”

 

Just then their manager arrived, sensing a tense situation, he just informed them their vans are here and left immediately. Everyone stayed silent for a minute, Yuta sighed and stood up first, “Mark, Taeil and Jaehyun, you go with Tae to the first car, the rest of us will take the second one.”

 

\-----

 

 

Taeyong was more than relived when he finally reached the van, looking forward to a bit of shut eye before their shooting schedule, he is glad Yuta give him the quieter members, he need to refresh so he won’t snap again.

 

 

“Taeyong-shi” Of course, as the leader what right does he have to rest? Irritated he stare blankly at the manager. “The interviewer will ask about rookie days, how you guys started, first impression, how you became the leader and the like, prep the kids and make sure no one seem left out especially the foreign members. Fake stories if you have to. Understood?” He nodded, but the manager wasn’t done. “I also told Yuta to prep the other car, I don’t care if you guys are fighting now, I need you guys to make everyone look like bffs from rookie days until now.” This time the manager finished his speech and shut the door behind him.

 

Well, so much for rest, Taeyong look bitterly out the window, thinking what stories can they possibly fake this time around. Ignoring the others waiting for his instructions, he mumbled “let me think for a bit. Everyone Just rest first and think about our rookie days We will just talk about it on the plane.”

 

Pulling out his phone, he started typing and erasing, and typing again to Yuta. Maybe seeing the speech bubble for too long ticked him off, Yuta sent a message instead

 

“Sleep potato head, we will talk on the plane.”

 

Smiling to himself, he deleted his message and closed his phone, drifting off to sleep while thinking about the rookie’s days… Almost 6 whole years ago.

\-----

**August 2012**

 

Being in A section right after entering the company is difficult. The A section manager already brief him the day before, telling him to look out for bullies and snarky comments from the other trainees. Since EXO just debuted, majority of the trainee in A section who didn’t make it are anxious, a sense of urgency is making them sensitive to new competitions.

 

“ Taeyong-ah, with your talent and looks, they will treat you as a serious threat, but most of them are already too old to debut, as intimating they might be they will have to leave soon. Don’t be too scared.” the assistant manager rumbling on and on as she walks him to the practice room.

 

“ Don’t worry Chaeyeon Noona, I won’t quit because of a few bullies.” I am already 17. I am not a baby, Taeyong thinks bitterly.

 

He is honestly so excited to see the training rooms and meet the other trainees. What can go wrong with a bunch of kids who all love music and dancing like me? The noonas and the hyungs here sure over think a lot.

 

“ Oh one last thing!” Chaeyeon stops him at the door, “There are two other trainees your age that joined us yesterday, they are both future prospects like you. They are...” She was interrupted by loud laughter in the room, it was odd, since it was dance practice time, and the laughter sounds awful lot like mockery. She opened the door quietly and Taeyong followed her, curious what caught her attention.

 

Inside, a boy around his age is standing with his head hung low. While another boy is in front of him angrily saying, actually half shouting words Taeyong didn’t understand. They are both standing in the middle of the dance floor, in a circle of taller trainees snickering and mimicking. They are both drenched from head to toe.

 

A taller trainee was standing beside them, with blonde hair and sharp jaw line, he looks at least 5 years older than the younger boys in front of him. He pointed to the bucket of water besides his foot. “Speak in whatever language you want, I said that you made a mistake in the routine and that is how we train in SM, you made a mistake, you get punished, if that’s too hard to comprehend, go back to watching anime. And tell the other one to fly back to whatever third world country that he came from. Just because you are pretty doesn’t make you SM.”

 

“What on earth is going on here?” Chaeyeon noona looks furious, stepping on the hard wood walking towards the boys.

 

“Oh, the new kids are not getting the routine, we are just speeding up their learning curve.” Taeyong was shocked, the boy was informal and rude even to Chaeyeon noona.

 

“Who gave you the right to train them Hyungshin-shi? And the routine was for the final EXO prospects, even you had to learn it for 3 months. Yuta and Ten arrived yesterday, How....”

 

“ Chaeyeon-shi, now that Suho hyung is gone, I am the new A class leader, and I don’t want to bring my father into this, could you just leave the other newbie here and shut the door behind you when you leave.”

 

Taeyong realized he was gesturing to him, he looked at the assistant manager not sure what to do, this is nothing like what he was expecting. Judging by Chaeyeon’s reaction however, Hyungshin must have a powerful father, she gives all of them a little bow, glanced at the younger kids apologetically “I will tell the other managers right away” and left causing more snickering.

 

Taeyong looks uneasily at the older trainees, Hyungshin surprised him by extending a hand as if for a handshake. Taeyong took it avoiding eye contact, he doesn’t like the attention everyone is giving him.

 

One of the other tall boys suddenly butt in: “You don’t know how to speak Korean too? Cause I am pretty sure SM doesn’t hire mute kids.”

 

“ No, I am Korean.” Taeyong looked up, although nervous, he was definitely not scared, he was known in High School for having a cold-fierce expression and he is using it towards his advantage. “ My name is Lee Taeyong, I am 17 years old.”

 

Hyungshin and the other ring leader looking guy was obviously taken aback, surprised by the confident of this newbie and though they will never admit it, they are stunned at how good looking he is. Behind them the other trainees started whispering to each other.

 

“17? Same age as these two.” “so it is true they are going to start a new A class and get rid of us..” “damn we are 4 years older than them…” “With his looks, I am pretty sure SM is going to make him the new ace.” …….

 

Taeyong didn’t really bother with what the other guys are talking about, he just glanced at the two boys earlier. The one that was yelling earlier was comforting the smaller boy in broken English, but Taeyong could see he was also holding back tears. For some reason he felt he needs to get closer, Taeyong tries to move towards them since the other boys are still busy discussing, wanting to make a proper introduction, just then the door opened again.

 

“Everyone, directors office, NOW”


	2. Some Regrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rookies day from Yuta's point of view.

 

 

**Aug 2012**

 

Yuta likes to think he is a man with no regrets. But now, standing in an airconditioned room, in wet clothes, and a bunch of jerks saying things he didn’t understand. He realized how wrong he was.

 

No, it’s not the coming to Korea part he regretted, it’s the why didn’t I take up boxing instead of football as a child he regretted. He tried his best to fight back verbally, but the limited amount of Korean he knew was not making it easy, and he has switched to speaking Japanese so he can just curse at them.

 

He knew that coming to Korea and being an idol wouldn’t be easy, he has read about the competition and the harsh trainings, and he prepared for that, mentally and physically. He told himself he would work hard for a couple of years and he would get to achieve his goals, like the idols he sees on TV.

 

He was thrilled when he got into SM, the very same company that TVXQ works in. He entered the training room today like it would be the best day of his life, Again, Yuta was so wrong.

 

Although he couldn’t understand why even the manager couldn’t do anything about the rude ass blonde guy who made them start dancing an intense routine, he did understand some how he is not strong enough, not valuable enough to the company maybe? Yuta was glad that the new guy did manage to steal their attention, and he turned around and looked at Ten.

 

Ten still has his head down and the elder could see his eyes are a bit red. Yuta and him both arrived a week before and they bonded over a city tour and latenight snacks, Ten was very sweet, both of them don’t have a common language, so he managed with the little Korean he knew and the translator on his phone, and Ten was also easy to talk to, he was so excited to start training- like Yuta.

 

Yuta pat Ten gently on the shoulders and said what he thinks means “it’s going to be okay” in Korean, but Ten looked up at him confused, Yuta cursed in his heart, damn…he didn’t have his phone on him, so he struggled for a bit for English words. And came Yuta’s second regret, not paying attention to his English teacher.

 

“Don’t worry, be happy?” it came out more like a question than a comfort, but Yuta was proud of himself, because Ten burst a little laugh. “Thanks Yuta, I will try.”

\----

 

It was on their way to the director office that Yuta finally got to glance at the new comer, he was trying to move closer to them and offered him a friendly smile. Wow, he is handsome af, Yuta mutters to himself in Japanese, his self-confidence wondered for a minute how a guy can be better looking than him. Maybe he has a shit personality, his thought to himself.

 

“Hello, I am Taeyong, what’s your name?” The handsome stranger interrupted Yuta’s train of thought, he was speaking in Japanese, with accent of course, but he actually made the effort. Okay, so he is good looking and has a great personality.

 

“Hello, I am Yuta, from Japan. And this is Ten, he is from Thailand.” Yuta answered back in Korean with his signature smile. And was please to see that Mr. good-looking with the great personality affected at his smile. Self-confidence – restored

 

They entered the director office, the three of them exchanging whatever small talk they could, language barrier sure was a bitch. Once they entered, they glance nervously as the Director looks pissed off.

 

“Chaeyeon-shi told me about your behaviors, You are lucky that Sajang-nim is not here.” He then glanced at the two members that just glared back and sighed, he can’t do anything about him without the Sajang-nim being there, so he settled for a jab“ Not all of you have the _abilities_ that Hyungshin and Jongseok have, and instead of training harder, you target your competition? I will let you all know there are a lot of people in class B that are dying to replace all of you. Now, everyone get your asses back to the training room, Your manager will announce your punishment.”

 

Yuta didn’t understand much, judging from the expression of the two jerks faces though, the director’s words proves ineffective. He was ready to follow the others and leave, when the director asked the newest members that joined to stay. He smiled a very official smile, and asked his assistant to hand him and Ten translators. His talk was long, and boring, basically explaining how the older boys would all be gone as soon as the CEO returns, and for now they will have a special training room with some of the other class A kids that they are keeping, the ones who were at school and he promised they were nice.

 

Yuta left the office in a daze, he has too much information to process in a day. But he finally has a translator so he can talk to his new friends without struggling for words! He broke the silence and said, “Well this has been a rough day.” Ten chuckled and replied back, “you don’t say… I just hope the new kids aren’t like the Jerks earlier.” They continued the small talk until they reached the room the director told them to go and before any of them can open it. An excited kid burst through the door.

 

“JAEHYUN HYUNG YOU ARE BACK!!!!” when the director said kids, he really meant kids. The younger one that just came bursting through the door was probably 13 or 12. “Oh, you are not Jaehyun hyung.” Another kid came through the door and pulled the first one back apologizing to the trio.

 

“Sorry Hyungs, Jisung just got excited because he is an idiot. You guys must be the new ones joining that the director talked about.”

 

“It’s okay,” Taeyong quickly answered back, and they exchanged introductions. The kid that pulled Jisung back was also very young, but Taeyong was still surprised that Jaemin is 13 and Jisung is 11.

 

“You guys are enfants,” Yuta astonished, forgetting to use the translator this time.

 

“Oh Hyung is Japanese!” Jaemin was also excited now, “I always wanted to learn Japanese and like, I love Japan. Can Hyung please teach me?”

 

Yuta smiled, Jaemin reminded of his youngest sister back home, always excited and nags Yuta to spend time with her. “Yes of course.”

 

“Okay Yuta hyung is now my favorite!” Jaemin exclaimed

 

“I thought I was your favorite!” Another guy entered, he was carrying a suitcase, but the first thing Yuta noticed was how tall he is, he had a friendly smile and waved to the others. "Hello new friends, the name is Johnny. I just came back from the states so hence the luggage" He said it pointing to his suitcase. 

Ten suddenly perked up, "America? so you can speak English? Please tell me you can. Btw my name is Ten, I am from Thailand, I think I am younger than you and yes I am dying to speak English to someone."

 

"Yes. born and raised in Chicago!" Johnny was surprised the pretty one suddenly start speaking to him in straight English, "Well, don't worry, we have another member that is from Canada and one that lived in the states for 4 years. "

 

For the first time that day, Ten sighed in relief, and smiled at Johnny sweetly. 

 

Well this is going to be fun, Johnny thought to himself

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry it sucks, I didn't have the time to proof read. Please read and comment <3

**Author's Note:**

> Please Like and Comment <3


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